Belmont, Mount Holly to work with Charlotte for wastewater treatment

Two local cities are making plans to team up with Charlotte to treat their wastewater rather than pay for expensive upgrades to aging wastewater treatment plants.

Amanda Memrick

Two local cities are making plans to team up with Charlotte to treat their wastewater rather than pay for expensive upgrades to aging wastewater treatment plants.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources will require both Mount Holly and Belmont to make significant improvements to their existing wastewater treatment plants in order to meet state regulations that dictate how much nitrogen, phosphorus and wastewater can be discharged into Lake Wylie and the Catawba River.

Mount Holly has been looking at different options for its aging wastewater treatment plant for about six years, said Utilities Director James Friday.

Mount Holly City Council approved a nonbinding agreement this month that would allow the Queen City to treat its wastewater. Belmont City Council signed a similar agreement in 2011.

“I think the main driver behind it is not only is it better for the environment — everybody’s going through this new state of the art plant — we would also be more cost effective going forward,” Friday said.

Under the agreement between Mount Holly and Charlotte, Charlotte would build a regional wastewater treatment plant near Long Creek in Mecklenburg County. Mount Holly would pay up to $14 million for a pumping station, main pipeline and facility to transfer wastewater to Charlotte. Mount Holly would pay Charlotte for operating and maintaining those items, according to the agreement.

It would cost Belmont at least $12 million to upgrade its plant, according to an estimate from a few years ago, said Belmont Utilities Director Chuck Flowers.

“A bigger plant is more efficient,” Friday said. “They can treat the waste cheaper than we can treat ours.”

Mount Holly would maintain 2-million gallon storage tanks to handle any kind of overflow that might happen from a heavy downpour that floods the system, Friday said.

Belmont’s nonbinding agreement states that it would pay for a pump station and treatment and operations cost at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities plant. Charlotte would pay for and construct a pipeline to connect to Charlotte’s Paw Creek station. Specific costs aren’t listed in Belmont’s agreement.

Mount Holly and Belmont would be treated as wastewater customers, said Charlotte-Mecklenburg Utilities Director Barry Gullet.

Both cities would still maintain their sewer systems and do everything they do now except run treatment plants, Gullet said. The cities would pay Charlotte for however many gallons Charlotte treated. Charlotte wouldn’t determine water rates for residents or deal directly with customers.

“It’s not a situation where we’re coming in and taking over their sewer system,” Gullet said.

Building the proposed regional plant won’t happen for at least five years, Gullet said. One of the pipelines will likely be built in the next five years.

“What we’re trying to do is provide for protecting Lake Wylie and provide wastewater treatment for economic development that’s going to take place over the next 50 years,” Gullet said.

You can reach reporter Amanda Memrick at 704-869-1839 or follow @AmandaMemrick on Twitter.